The Platters, who have sold millions of records, made appearances in early rock 'n' roll movies like "Rock Around The Clock," and scored hits with recordings of "The Great Pretender," "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," and others. Vance, though, has his own set of impressive credentials. He's been making and recording doo wop in some fashion or another since he first discovered rock 'n' roll -- a commitment that has scored him the nickname "the Bob Dylan of doo wop." The singer and songwriter's first real group, Jay and the Americans, opened up for The Beatles before the group made their first appearance on Ed Sullivan. During his career, Vance helped produce, record and mentor scores of musicians, like Walter Becker and Donald Fagen of Steely Dan.
"It was an amazing time. There was no such thing as a rock 'n' roll musician," says Vance. "Nobody had long hair. If you wanted to make a record in those days, like, for a hundred bucks, you could make a record that maybe would sell a million copies."
Vance recalls how in the days of doo wop, many groups would form right off the street and write their own songs, then come to New York City's Tin Pan Alley, and audition for record producers a cappella.
"And if these guys liked what they heard," says Vance, "they'd bring down a bunch of guys from Birdland -- real killer guys, jazz guys -- and when you listen to those records, it captured something that will never be captured again. I call music from that time teenage jazz, because that's what it was."
Sure, most of those early doo wop recordings don't have the complex chord progressions of jazz, but Vance maintains you can hear bebop solos and other bits in the songs that will wow the listener. And he's the type of guy who knows.
After all, Vance doesn't just have a love for doo wop, which he proved most recently with his album of obscure doo wop jewels, called "Count Down to Love." He's also been behind a ton of well-loved soundtracks and movie scores, from cult classics like "American Hot Wax," (the story of American rock 'n' roll radio pioneer Alan Freed) and "National Lampoon's Animal House" (which may be one of the first soundtracks to incorporate clips from the movie into the recording -- a move Vance says he came up with on the spot), to well-loved early rock tribute pic "Eddie and the Cruisers." For the latter, Vance had to convince the film's producers to ditch the original music -- written by a composer of jingles -- and instead employ a real-deal rock group, John Cafferty and The Beaver Brown Band, a move that would eventually crack Billboard's Top 10 and sell hundreds of thousands of copies.
These days, Vance seems content to perform, and spend time in the studio.
"As you get older, there aren't that many things that have that much meaning," he says, "but that's something that has a lot of meaning, and gives me a sense of accomplishment."
